So Much Closer
by ReginaCaelum
Summary: Honestly, he thought in irritation as he gave her his hoodie, the girl had no appreciation of chivalry at all. What's she doing, running in the snow anyway? TouRin-y one-shot, for MeteorLeopard


**Disclaimer: disclaimed**

Merry Christmas, MeteorLeopard! I'd just like to say, this is not at all what I was going to write, and then I did, and then it grew bigger and bigger and _ate _me. Like I'm not even kidding! askdfj;as Whatever, I hope you like it :)

* * *

><p>"Why," drawled Toushirou obnoxiously, "Are you standing outside my house in the snow in nothing but," he eyed her legs appreciatively, noticing their unusual paleness, "a t-shirt and running shorts?"<p>

Karin _so _would have snarled, but the wind decided to throw something nasty and her teeth chattered so hard it felt like they were about to splinter. "I di-didn't think i-it was ab-bou-bout to _snow_."

He raised one white eyebrow infuriatingly, and with obvious reluctance stepped aside to let her into his house. The frostbitten girl practically stumbled into the room in her haste to get out of the biting cold, and he almost felt bad for her. _Almost. _But any notions of chivalry vanished as Karin whirled, nearly smacking him in the face with her ponytail, and demanded, "Ja-jacket. N-_now_."

"What?" he gaped, unable to believe the audacity of this girl, and wondering why he was unable to believe it. For her part, Karin just shuddered violently again, probably more than really necessary, and looked up at him through her eyelashes. It only took a moment for him to succumb, muttering, "No fair," as he grudgingly pulled his hoodie off and handed it to her. She grabbed it greedily, and seemed to curl into the warmth. As she attempted to get her bearings while simultaneously trying not to shudder, the white-haired host blankly noticed that her legs were pink, her nose was red, and her lips, light purple. Lips that were currently twisted into a sardonic smirk. With a jolt, he realized that he must've been staring at Karin's lips for some time, and he blushed, cursing himself internally.

"S-see somethin-ng you li-like, Shi-ro-rou?" she asked, her attempt at smirking disappearing as she accidently bit her lip so hard it drew blood. "Crap."

With fascination, Toushirou watched, captivated, as her tongue darted out, catching the ruby red drop of liquid and returning between those pale, pale lips. Suddenly, the room felt too hot, and he cleared his throat, feeling his blush returning. "I'm going to get some blankets."

As her normally-suave sometimes-friend practically launched himself out of the living room, Karin snorted at his lack of smoothness. _Guess having Ran as a housemate doesn't give you that many perks, _she chortled to herself as she kicked off her shoes and curled up onto his couch, subconsciously delighting in the smell of him that seemed to smother her. After less than a minute of waiting, she grew bored, and walked on still-shivering legs to the kitchen.

Toushirou came back downstairs with a pile of blankets (some of them not having been used since Karin's last visit, months ago) and dumped them on the couch. Not surprisingly, his unexpected guest wasn't there, and with a frustrated sigh, he forced himself to walk, rather than stalk, to the kitchen.

"You're out of coffee." _Really? That's _how she greets him? And in his _own house. _"So I made tea. You still like chai, right?" Oh. With a cautious expression, he took his mug (the one she made from him, and he knows that's no mistake) and sniffed it. No milk, no sugar, just the way he likes it. He let a small smile cross his face and looked up to thank her, but she was already looking at him with amusement. "I didn't poison it, you know." With a chuckle, she turns back to the cabinet. "Hey, where's my mug?"

He choked on his tea. It's quiet, but she noticed, of course, and turned back to him with a wry smirk. "I put sweatpants on the couch," he said helplessly, praising whoever was listening as she immediately turned her attention to getting more warmth. A moment later, she padded back into the kitchen, clad in black sweatpants. Without further comment, she got out some business mug he'd collected from somewhere and filled it with a bag of chai tea, some milk, two Splendas, and boiling water. "Cheers."

They clinked mugs and took a sip, he not-so-inconspicuously watching her from over the rim of his. "So, not to pry of anything," he began, "But why are you here?"

"Erm," she said intelligently, and he was surprised to see she was almost blushing. "Bad planning on my part, actually. I, uh, was out running—"

"In the twenty-degree weather," he finished flatly. "In running shorts."

"Yeah, yeah," she waved her hand dismissively, "Wasn't expecting snow, but it came down, and your house happened to be close," she shrugged, "So here I am."

All she got for a response is a roll of her eyes and a muttered, "Unbelievable."

She snickered. "Not really." A moment passed before she raised a quizzical eyebrow and asked, "You never told me where my mug is."

Thankfully, this time he was able to swallow the tea in his mouth instead of upchucking it, but he still twitched. "It, er, might have been broken," he muttered, fidgeting, "On accident."

Now it was her turn to raise her black eyebrows. "Uh-huh," she deadpanned, but didn't push, and her face quickly brightened. "Hey, let's watch a movie!" She slid out of the room in her thick socks, and he simply groaned.

_You show the lights that stop me turn me to stone, You shine when I'm alone—_Toushirou flipped his phone open before the annoyingly cheerful yet catchy song could continue. "What, Rangiku?" he snapped.

"Geez, what's up your butt?" his normally bubbly sister snarled right back. "Look, whatever—the snow's coming down really fast and I just wanted to let you know I won't be home for a while."

"Do you have cover?" Toushirou asked, concern getting the better of him over his nerves.

Rangiku sighed and said in a morose tone, "Yes, but it's with _Gin, _so I don't know how much better that is."

"How ironic," sighed Toushirou, "We're both spending unwanted time with our exes."

There was a muffled swear word, and the phone crackled with static. "_Karin's _there?" the redhead demanded, steel in her tone, "Toushirou—" The rest of her words faded into white noise.

"It'll be fine, Ran," he assured her as soon as he could hear her voice clearly. "You take care of yourself too." The line disconnected as soon as he'd finished, and with a sigh, he flipped the ancient phone shut.

"She okay?" Karin asked from the doorway, voice neutral but eyes cautious. Although she and Rangiku had been friends during her time as Toushirou's girlfriend, the redhead made no point of hiding her feelings when they broke up.

Toushirou sighed. "She's fine. What movie do you want to watch?"

The ravenette grinned, turning on her heel and bounding into the den. "Well, I was thinking we could do a Batman marathon since _The Dark Knight Rises _is coming out this summer, but we could also stick with the classics," she said, holding up her ex's copy of _The Fellowship of the Ring _and grinning brightly.

He knew which one she'd rather watch, and honestly he'd rather watch _Lord of the Rings _as well, because she'd be sprouting off comic book references if they watched Batman. Besides, she'd always had a thing for Aragorn, and even if her fangirling moods were tiring, they were extremely entertaining.

The two settled into his couch with her under most of the blankets and out of the corner of his teal eye, Toushirou watched Karin silently mouth the dialogue. Maybe it had been a bad idea to date, he thought pensively, for their friendship was too precious to risk. But as he watched her face light up at Legolas's first appearance to the pucker in her lips at Gandalf's fall, he couldn't bring himself to concrete that thought.

She fell asleep during _The Two Towers _like she always did, and he muted the movie before getting up to fetch a book. As he walked past her, the crinkle in her brow and the part of her lips was just too tempting, and as he both cursed his foolishness and praised her ability to sleep through a hurricane, he leaned forward. Carefully, his lips brushed over hers, and his breath made her shiver even in her sleep. At the last moment, he changed his mind, and delicately placed a kiss on her forehead instead, eyelashes fluttering against her skin momentarily.

As he walked away, he did not catch the small smile flitting across her face.

* * *

><p>Leave a review, please~ Again, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!<p> 


End file.
